suffers 1st loss of season to unbeaten Fallston

By Victor Hensley

FALLSTON, MD - Sometimes, you need a good wake-up call.

For Perryville, that call came in the form of the Fallston Cougars (3-0), who earned their third-straight blowout victory against the Panthers, 41-11, last Friday to hand Perryville its first loss of the season.

“This is a good reality check for our guys to tighten up some things that we have to do better on all three sides of the ball,” Sean Sandora, the Panthers’ head coach, said following the loss. “We had seen on film after playing against Joppa and playing against North Harford there were some things we weren’t doing that would eventually nip us in the bud and it came to fruition on Friday night.”

Early in the second quarter, Perryville trailed by just four points, 7-3, in a contest that appeared to be trending in its direction.

But, momentum shifted entirely on a sequence that saw the Panthers seemingly tackle a Cougars ballcarrier for a safety – which would have put Perryville down, 7-5, with the ball – but it went unnoticed by the officials, Sandora said. Then, on the very next play, Fallston quarterback Aiden

Dixon scrambled for a big gain and the first down, leading to an eventual touchdown drive and a 14-3 lead.

The Cougars went on to score 34 unanswered points to put the Panthers away, 41-3, in the third quarter.

“We lost to a very good football program,” Sandora said. “They’re wellcoached, disciplined … and that just showed on Friday night. They took advantage of big plays, executed offensively and defensively and took advantage of some of the miscues we had.”

The Panthers finally found the end zone in the fourth quarter on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Ty Patchell to Vincent Muscella, his first touchdown catch of the season, to make it 41-11.

While there may have been fewer positive takeaways for the Panthers in this one, Sandora said the play of senior Zach Ayers, who had an interception and hit the game’s only field goal, caught his eye as one of the lone bright spots.

Perryville will attempt to get back in the win column with its first intracountry matchup of the season against Rising Sun (1-2) this Friday, while Fallston continues its unbeaten campaign on the road versus Patterson Mill (2-1).

Golden Elks earn bounce-back win in excitement-filled visit to Aberdeen

passion and, of course, plenty of entertainment. Whether it was sophomore wide receiver DJ Piner making contested grabs that could rival those seen on SportsCenter’s Top 10 or senior defensive lineman Zyan Williams wreaking havoc in the Eagles’ backfield with a joy-filled grin on his face, the Golden Elks were never lacking in energy.

“This is one of the best senior-led teams that we’ve ever had,” Rossi said. “You can argue talent left and right, but these kids have a certain demeanor about them that’s different from our teams in the past. And that’s not any slight to teams in the past, but … they are really, really taking the reins and picking each other up. This is just a very cohesive group.”

Despite Elkton’s three-score victory, things didn’t start off with a Golden Elksthemed bang.

In each of the team’s first three drives, Elkton struggled to pick up more than a first down or two, coming up empty-handed in all three – including a drive that began deep in Eagles territory following an interception by senior defensive back Isaiah Huffstutler, which ended on a failed fourth-down conversion.

During that span, Aberdeen drew first blood with a lengthy, near-six-minute drive that finished with sophomore quarterback Kelsyn Harris punching in a 1-yard score to give the Eagles a 6-0 lead.

However, it took just one play to ignite the Golden Elks’ offensive attack.

Early in the second quarter, Elkton’s Brian Pearson took the handoff on second down and ran toward the left side of the field, finding a hole, breaking a tackle and making an Eagles defender miss with a textbook spin cycle near midfield as he chugged down to Aberdeen’s 20-yard line. It was a 52-yard run for the senior running back, who put his team in prime position to get on the board and even the score.

Even though senior quarterback Eli Latshaw would give the ball right back to Aberdeen with an interception just a few plays later, it was clear that Pearson’s run fired up a Golden Elks squad that was hungry for a bounce-back performance.

On the ensuing Eagles drive, the Golden Elks put on a clinic, sacking Harris on third-and-long and blocking the punt on fourth down, putting Elkton right back into Aberdeen territory.

One play later, it was time for redemption.

Latshaw dropped back on the first play of the drive, cocked his arm back and fired to the right corner of the end zone, where Piner won the jump ball and came down with a nasty touchdown catch before stepping over the defender with an Iverson-esque swagger.

It was the first of Piner’s two receiving touchdowns on the day, emerging as the star of the show for the Golden Elks.

“His cousin, Dah’Mear Triplett, was one of the best receivers in Elkton High history,” Rossi explained. “Dah’Mear’s worked with him in the past years, getting him ready, and he’s finally starting to play like Big Boy DJ. We told him, ‘Hey, you can come out this season and be a sophomore, or you can come out with a ‘heavy is the head that wears the crown’ type of mentality and be that guy. He was that guy today, he really rose to the occasion.” Elkton wasn’t finished.

On the next Eagles possession, Harris was picked off again, this time by sophomore linebacker Hugean Greer, who returned it all the way to the red zone and set up a 1-yard touchdown run from junior Solomon Pope to give the Golden Elks a 12-6 lead just before the half.

In the second half, the Golden Elks’ defense turned it up to another level, forcing five three-and-outs and preventing the Eagles from earning a single first down in 24 minutes of play.

Meanwhile, Elkton tacked on another 10 points from yet another Piner touchdown – on an 11-yard strike from Latshaw – and a field goal from senior Michael Marra, leading to the 22-6 final score.

It was a dominant effort on both sides of the ball from the Golden Elks. And Rossi said he believes they’re only getting better.

“We’re seeing that we’re starting to progress in practice, and once we make that translation through to the game field, these guys are going to have a lot of success and a lot of fun,” Rossi said. “We’re 2-1, but our only focus is going 1-0 every single week.”

This week, Elkton (2-1) is set to host the North Harford Hawks (0-3), while Aberdeen (0-3) will travel to Pasadena to take on the Northeast Eagles (1-2).

Tigers struggle to stop stout Patterson

By Victor Hensley

A week after an exhilarating last-minute score lifted Rising Sun over Havre de Grace, 27-21, the Tigers ran into a brick wall and an even stronger rushing attack.

Rising Sun fell to 1-2 last Friday following a defeat, 40-20, at the hands of the Patterson Mill Huskies (2-1) in a contest that featured nine scores on the ground between the two squads.

Despite the eventual final score, the Tigers managed to keep it close in the opening half.

Benefitting from a late-second-quarter rushing touchdown from Gannon Russell, Rising Sun found itself down

Mill rushing attack in 20-point loss at home

just 13-6 at the half.

Though, the second half wouldn’t be as kind to the Tigers, with the Huskies pounding in four more touchdowns on the ground in the game’s final 24 minutes, putting Rising Sun in a deep hole it simply couldn’t escape. The Tigers were able to find the end zone twice in the second half – both rushing touchdowns from Russell, who totaled three on the night – but it wasn’t enough to match the Huskies’ firepower.

Rising Sun looks to get back on track with an intracounty matchup against Perryville (2-1) this Friday, while Patterson Mill will face unbeaten Fallston (3-0) at home.

Joppatowne outlasts North East, 46-21, in Indians’ home opener

By Victor Hensley

NORTH EAST - Early in the sec- ond quarter against Joppatowne last Friday, North East’s JJ Fleming stepped in front of an errant pass by Mariners quarterback Anthony Wilson, returning it nearly 40 yards for a pick-six that visibly fired up the Indians’ sideline.

Fleming’s unlikely touchdown put the Indians within one point, 8-7, but by the halftime break, the pick-six would be long forgotten as the Mariners promptly scored 24 unanswered points to take a 24-7 lead at the intermission.

By night’s end, Joppatowne (2-1) had secured a 46-21 victory over North East, sending the Indians back to the drawing board with an 0-3 record.

While the results haven’t shown themselves in North East’s 2022 campaign, Indians Head Coach Taylor Slaughenhoupt assures they’re coming. For now, however, he’s proud seeing his team take baby steps.

“I tell the guys all the time that we’re a good team. Our re- cord doesn’t reflect that,” Slaughenhoupt said. “Things are going to come together. We’re still getting there. We’re just continuing to feed off the positive, learn from the negative and take it day by day.”

After all, North East’s 21 points scored against Joppatowne were more than the team had posted in its previous two games combined (13).

A bulk of those points came from the arm of senior quarterback Luke Keefer, who completed 7-of-16 through the air with a pair of touchdowns and an interception.

Both of Keefer’s scores came in the fourth quarter, with senior Raheam Hart (6 catches for 76 yards) and junior Evan England (1 catch for 16 yards) being the recipients.

After losing four key players in the season-opener against C. Milton Wright – who subsequently missed the following game against unbeaten Fallston – the Indians were nearly at full strength when the Mariners came to town, a clear sign that the team is improving now that Slaughenhoupt’s